Brian Monteith: I take my hat off to Harvie's stand

Published on Friday 30 January 2009 08:59

IT IS not often that I applaud the Scottish Green Party, but I shall take my Borsalino hat off to Patrick Harvie the next time I see him, such is the admiration I feel for his refusal to support the Scottish Government's budget on Wednesday.

He and Robin Harper did us all a favour by forcing Alex Salmond and John Swinney to eat some humble pie as they rethink their spending plans for next year.

Sometime soon, probably next week, they have the chance to absolve themselves by producing a budget that is more suited to the fierce recession that is about to envelop us – but I'm not expecting them to take that chance.

Instead, I expect there will be adjustments made to try and buy the Greens' support so that the Budget Bill passes safely by four votes.

Even so, this embarrassing episode will not have been in vain for it will have reminded the SNP that it is a minority government and that it can be held accountable by the other parties.

John Swinney's budget has been long in the planning – from way back in the summer of last year when we were still being told by Boom and Bust Brown that Britain was better placed than other Western economies to ride out the recession.

The Finance Minister should seize the opportunity of having to start again to take account of how bad the figures now look. Not only has the International Monetary fund announced this week that Britain is about to experience the worst recession next year of all the developed nations – worse than Japan or Italy – but we now can see the evidence that Scotland is going into the recession quicker and deeper than the rest of the UK, as its gross domestic product suffered a greater fall.

Another economic forecast has also warned that the suffocating scale of government in Scotland will make its recovery from recession slower and longer.

It's not difficult to see why – Scotland is far too dependent on central and local government for its economic activity.

I have pointed out before that if you were to take the local economies of Edinburgh and Aberdeen out of Scotland's economic statistics, you would find that our nation's economy was declining – even in the good years. So, when the prosperous private sectors in Edinburgh or Aberdeen begin to lose money and shed jobs, the rest of Scotland suffers.

What is therefore needed is a budget that seeks to reduce the size of government, not horse-trading by all the parties about how to increase it.

It pains me to see that the Tories voted with the SNP in return for what they thought were vital concessions for extra public spending in town centres and outdoor education. What's so Conservative about that?

They should be saying quite bluntly that all the largesse of Labour and now the SNP – the free meals, the free eye tests, and now the proposals for free loft insulation – cannot be afforded and only when hard work is rewarded, not penalised by high taxes, can such luxuries for the middle classes be considered.

It is the private sector that will take us out of recession and it must be given more room and encouragement to grow.

Backing the Beeb

The BBC has come in for a great deal of criticism for not broadcasting an appeal for humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. I'm not exactly one for defending the BBC, but on this occasion I think the corporation has made the right decision. The objectivity of its news reporting – especially internationally – is central to its reputation.

The idea that some actors might not wish to work for the BBC again must hardly fill its management with dread, and the fact that in the same breath the petitioners criticise Israel and support Palestine shows the BBC knows what the motives of the protest are about.

The BBC should not be taking sides. Israeli bombs and Palestinian rockets cause indiscriminate grief on both sides, and to appeal on behalf of only one set of victims would damage seriously its reputation for honest reporting.

The blame game

The value of the Royal Bank of Scotland has fallen from its high point of 75 billion to just above 5bn – and in so doing the savings and pensions of many people in Britain, and especially in Edinburgh, have gone down the toilet. It's nothing short of a tragedy for the individuals concerned and the communities the families that will feel the pain.

Nevertheless I find the rush by many politicians to metaphorically lynch bankers like Fred Goodwin from the highest lamppost distasteful and hypocritical. It wasn't so long ago that Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling were commending these bankers and applauding their knighthoods – now they only want to talk of their incompetence.

MPs should by all means make Sir Fred explain himself – but when do we the public get a chance to give our verdict on the politicians that screwed up the regulation of the banks in the first place?